Reply To: Sermon by Waharaka Thero on “Noble truth of suffering”

#52864
Lal
Keymaster

Yes. The kammic energies generated when one engages in akusala kamma (with abhisankhara) lead to two effects: (i) they can bring vipaka for that person in the future (for example, lead to rebirth in a given realm), and (ii) that energy also contributes to the preparation of the external environment (creating the environment necessary if it does not exist, or to maintain that environment).

  • For example, when the Sun, Earth, and other planets are “re-formed,” initially, all four lowest realms are absent. Then, as people (Brahma-kayika humans) start gradually “going back to their old ways and engaging in akusala kamma,” they generate kammic energies not only for their own individual futures but also collectively to make the environment for such birth to occur. 
  • For example, the animal realm is likely to emerge first. Initially, the environment for animals to survive (vegetation) was absent. With the collective kammic energy being generated, that environment emerges first. Then, the first animals of a given type appear with opapatika births. 
  • This is a fascinating account, but I don’t want to spend too much time on it. Yet, it is good to have these basic ideas. I don’t think there are explicit explanations in the Tipitaka, but we can deduce these possibilities based on the Agganna Sutta. Waharaka Thero delivered a couple of discourses on this topic.